May 10, 2011

"... Ms. Shriver gave a passionate speech on behalf of her husband in the final days of his campaign for governor after The Los Angeles Times published a series of stories painting him as womanizer and groper."

Mr. Schwarzenegger's attitude toward women has been an issue since the start of his campaign. But the new accusations, and Mr. Schwarzenegger's reply, set off a maelstrom of protest from his critics, including women's groups, Democrats and Arianna Huffington, who dropped out of the race this week but had repeatedly clashed with Mr. Schwarzenegger during a debate last week.

Oh! Arianna was in the center of the maelstrom!

''I consider his campaign a very expensively produced masquerade,'' Ms. Huffington, who was running as an independent, said, "the question is will the mask be removed before the election or after. I believe what this story is going to do is really bring to question this big issue of trust and credibility. If his word and image are consistently proven to be false, he doesn't have a leg to stand on.''

The Los Angeles Times reported that three of the women said Mr. Schwarzenegger had grabbed their breasts. Another said he reached under her skirt. A fifth said he tried to strip off her bikini in a hotel elevator. The sixth said Mr. Schwarzenegger pulled her to his lap and asked if she was experienced in a particular sexual act. The accusations covered a 25-year period, ending in 2000....

52 comments:

I heard the main reason she's splitting with him is because he wants to do another couple Terminator movies. (snark, but the fanboi tidbit is true).

Honestly, if they can't make him look any better than he did in his Expendables cameo, then he should give up killer cyborg movies altogether...unless they're completely based in a retirement community. And that's Bruce Campbell territory.

Arnold is as close to a conservative as California can get, i.e. he played a cartoon version of one in a movie. Possibly the biggest bait and switch in U.S. history. If he had remained what he ran as, CA would not be the disaster it is today. Arnold crumbled, like the vain little man, craving admiration, that he is. He could take being called a womanizer, a cad, even a fraud, but he could take being called "mean". He needed to be liked and he ended up hated. Let that be a lesson to other Republicans who want to go soft when the tough decisions need made.

No, but independents voted for Obama so I thought the distinction necessary. Less of a bait-and-switch if you're toward the middle of the spectrum. More so if you're hard left and Gitmo is still open, for instance.

Arguably a smart move…had McCain won, you’d have ObamaCare-Lite, Cap and Trade-lite, be no worse off on the Global War on Terror, you’d have had the Porkulus Bill, Comprehensive Immigration Reform, and a number of other measures, ALL with Republican support, as McConnell and Boehner would not want to hand “their” POTUS a defeat. Meaning that 2010 wouldn’t have been a wipe-out for your side (You’d have kept control as the TEA Party attacked the GOP) and that the “repeal” of any of these measures would be complicated by the fact that the GOP, in fact, supported them!

So YES, you should have voted for McCain……Why is this difficult to grasp? Or do you buy into the Media/Pelosi “narrative” that ALL Republicans are rich white guyz who hate the poor and want dirty air and water, and wish to starve Granny?

Bottom-Line: a McCain Presidency would give you about 60% of what you have now, and a far lessened chance of repeal…….Glad you bought the “narrative”.

What is your point, Professor Althouse? Sure, Arianna Huffington and Democrats were involved and it was at the last minute, but it doesn't mean all the stories were false. Reading the article you linked to, Schwarzenegger admitted that he engaged in sexual misbehavior. Ariana's involvement doesn't change that.

Hardly, these are positions that McCain had staked out during the campaign……It’s why I voted for Palin. Had she not been on the ticket I wasn’t voting. My dad did not vote in 1972 (As a Yellow Dog Democrat) because his choices were a “crazy man or a crook”, so too 2008 for me and many like me….Obama or Obama-Lite.

Tell me what would Mr. CrankyPants supporter of Immigration Reform, Cap and Trade, and a host of other Democrat-lite ideas done that would have so disgusted you, MadMAn? Considering you held the Congress, and that Pelosi and Reid would be writing the legislation for “Mr. Reach Across the Aisle” would be signing and that McCain would be leaning on Congressional Republicans to support, as “Bi-partisan and necessary legislation” what could go wrong in supporting McCain? I’m intrigued….you decided, why have Socialist-Lite when you can go Full Socialist?

Mind you, that’s what we on the Right try to point out to more “moderate” folks, that McCain was listed as “not liberal” enough and he went out of his way to move to the left……

Not exactly, Professor. Schwartzenegger was fending off the accusation that in 1975, he said he admired Hitler. Almost but not quite the same thing as admiring Hitler-past views, or at least past quote, versus the instant views. Given some of the other things he said during that time period that he later disavowed with shifting rationales, it's not necessarily unreasonable to ask about it.

Accusations of sexual misconduct were presented, some of them, by Schwarzenegger's own admission, true although the media let him off the hook without getting him to specify what he believed was true and what wasn't. Should the media have ignored the allegations because it came from democrats?

On topic, Ah-nuld did TRY to change California Public Policy, but got defeated early on…from then on, it seemed he was determined to win re-election, rather than change California’s path….

Sorry about the separation and likely divorce…in general these things are unpleasant, and I wouldn’t wish them on Sharpton, Kucinich, Ron Paul, or anyone….I just think it’s funny, Maria’s bailing NOW, now that Ah-nuld’s career is over…hope there wasn’t abuse involved.

Hardly, these are positions that McCain had staked out during the campaign

When did McCain ever come out for anything like Obamacare or Obamacare lite? He was one of the few Republican Senators who voted against Medicare Part D on the grounds that it was too expensive (in fact he’s generally been pretty good on spending issues).

Random observations: None of Arnold's problems as Governor had anything to do with philandering. As Palladian notes, there's something rich about Ariana commenting on masquerades. Maria's support of a horn dog husband coninued the fine old family tradition. Wonder the Times didn't give that as background info in their story. The NYT groped Arnold but left Edwards and any number of other Democrats untouched. Philandering, like corruption, homosexuality, and male pattern baldness, transcends party lines. You'd never know it from reading the Times.....Feminism, as practiced by liberal Democrats, is a huge scam. The disgusting atrocities practiced against women in the Muslim, Asian, and African world are under reported and attract no sense of outrage among feminists here. Given the Taliban's record in Afghanistan, I would expect women's groups to be lobbying for our increased presence there. Yeah, right. The feminists care more about a Hollywood star with hand problems than about all the rapes and murders in the Muslim world. The important lesson to learn from Arnold is that Republicans are sexists. The important lesson to learn from Lara Logan is that reporters are brave. How cynical do you have to get to protect yourself from this bullshit.

Considering that McCain voted against Obamacare which was largely written by Pelosi and Reid, I’d say that that’s a pretty good indication that he would.

He voted AGAINST a plan proposed by the fellow that BEAT HIM, wow who could have seen THAT coming? You mean like he voted against the Bush Tax Cuts? You mean, McCain voted against a plan that NO Republican supported? That had NO Republican input? Wow, it must have been a moral dilemma for him to have voted “no.”

Instead I posit, it’s January 2009 and Rid and Pelosi propose a NATIONAL version of RomneyCare…with the mandate….Sen Bennet (R-Utah) proposed such a plan, Mitt Romney proposed and SIGNED such a plan…all under the rubric of “saving money” “fiscal sanity” “preserving Medicare” and providing healthcare for Americans not covered by insurance “eliminating the use of emergency rooms” and the like and I’d bet McCain would have signed on IMMEDIATELY.